376 [Assembly 



race course, several times that number, of the honest yeomanr/ 

 of our county, who at any other time would have resisted the 

 temptation, have been dvawnfrom it. So great, indeed, has been 

 the draught in this direction, that the operations of the Society 

 have often been seiiuusly emuaridSScu. In more than one in- 

 stance during the fair of this year, the officers of the society were 

 compelled to suspend operations, until the return from the " races" 

 of a sufficient amount of working material to enable them to pro- 

 ceed with business. These remarks are not made in a spirit of 

 fault finding, but simply as an act of justice to ih« society which 

 I have the honor to represent, and as a warning to other societies 

 which have not yet had the same experience, 



V 



On the forenoon of the third and last dyy of the fair, the soci- 

 ety was very ably and eloquently addressed by the Hon. B. P. 

 Johnson, of Albany, the indefatigable Secretary of the State Ag- 

 ricultural Society. The discourse was one of rare ability, emi- 

 nently practical, and most opportunely adapted to the wants and 

 condition of those to whom it was addressed. 



The af* '^H'^on was devoted to the declaration of the awards, a 

 formal display of the animals which liad received the prizes, and 

 a public sale of stock, implements, kc. Owing to various causes, 

 chiefly of a local or a transient character, among which the 

 increased attractions at the race course may be named as one, 

 and the extraordinary drought of the past summer as another, 

 the exhibition was in some particulars inferior- to that of the pre- 

 ceding year. The display of dairy products and of manufactured 

 articles of nearly all kinds, was quite meager. The show of 

 horses, good ; of cattle, sheep and swine, fair, but not equal to 

 last year. The exhibition in floral iiall, IncludiDg fruits, flowers 

 and vegetables, was fully equal to any which the society has yet 

 made. * 



The premiums awarded at the fair amounted to ;^219 in cash, 

 and 11 diplomas. Of this amount $52, and 3 diplomas, were 

 awarded on cattle; $45, and 4 diplomas, on horses j $9, and 3 



